To avoid being matched for marriage, she smeared her pretty face with yellowish makeup, but he saw through her disguise at a glance.
He was about to catch up and strike up a conversation when he heard the young woman say there were two kinds of men she would never marry: “Merchants are too calculating. Military officers make too many mistakes.”
Later, he would often pull her into his arms and drill her on the virtues of military men.
“Military officers are the best. They’re strong and brave. How could those frail civil officials compare?”
“When you’re young, you don’t know how good military men are. You mistake civil officials for treasures.”
Even worse, after getting what he wanted, he still played innocent. Though he had already married her, he asked with feigned surprise, “Yao Yao, didn’t you dislike military men?”
She wouldn’t dare say she did. She was afraid he’d leave her little body in pieces, so she quickly kissed his cheek. “I like military men. I like General Qin the most.”
“That’s more like it.”
/ Later, she noticed the sky-blue tourmaline ring plaque at his waist, worn alongside his Tang-style saber. The words “Yao Yao” were engraved on it.
Only then did she realize he had been by her side for a long time.
[Entirely fictional setting]
